How the fall of the Berlin Wall may have raised a generation of criminals

The fall of the Berlin Wall may have blighted a generation in east Germany,
according to research published today which suggests that children born
after the Wall came down were significantly more likely to commit crimes
than their west German counterparts.

Demonstrators pull down a segment of the Berlin wall at Brandenburg gate in 1989Photo: AP

Children born to parents in former East Germany between 1991 and 1993 are at least 50 percent more likely to become criminals as they grew up than children born in the West, the research states.

The researchers say this is because the sudden collapse of the Communist regime created uncertainty about starting families, and led to a huge drop in the birthrate.

Those women who did have children were "younger, less educated and more likely to be unmarried mothers," the study says. The authors of the study, Arnaud Chevalier, of Royal Holloway, University of London and Olivier Marie, of the University of Maastricht, argue that this explains the criminal behaviour of the "Children of the Wall".

The researchers suggest that the parents of children born immediately after re-unification were less likely to have good parenting skills. They argue that if parents do not actively choose to have children, the outcomes for their children are likely to be worse. "Our results seem to confirm that parental selection may be the best predictor of future criminality," the study says.

From the age of eight onwards, the children of this generation were far more likely to be arrested by the police, the researchers found. They are also over-represented in the total criminal population by more than two-thirds.

Nine months after the fall of the Wall, the number of births each month in East Germany fell by 40%. The birth rate continued to fall until 1994, when it began to recover. The dramatic decline in fertility was caused by the decision of many East German women to avoid having children, the research found.

Women were uncertain how much it would cost to raise a family, and the collapse of the East German state and economy made life difficult. Under Communism, women benefited from a generous welfare state which provided free childcare for children above the age of one and a year's maternity leave on full pay. After the Wall came down, more than two million East German jobs disappeared in the course of a few years and many young people left to start new lives in the West.

The country's two halves remain unequal. Unemployment in the former East Germany has fallen but remains far higher than in the West.

The study looked at whether the crime rate might be explained by poor school performance, but found that there were no significant differences between the East German children and Western counterparts when it came to dropping out of school or repeating grades.

When researchers examined the children's relationship with their parents, they found that they were no more likely than Westerners to argue or fight with their mother and father – but they were less likely to report feeling loved.

The researchers say: "This indicates that parents who decided to have children at time of great economic uncertainties may have been worse parents who did not develop the appropriate emotional connection with their children."

Women who gave birth just after the end of communism in East Germany are much more willing to take risks, the researchers say, and this is also true for their children.

More than two decades after the Wall came down, Germany continues to count the cost of reunification. A government report last year stated that unemployment in the Eastern states stood at 10.3%, compared with 6% in the rest of Germany. The East's economic output was less than three-quarters that of the West.